Basic Info

Darren

Age: 61
Sex: Male
Race/Ethnicity: Caucasian
Religion: Christian

Catherine

Age: 49
Sex: Female
Race/Ethnicity: Caucasian
Religion: Christian

Child Preferences

Age: 1 to 8 years old
Sex: Either
Max Number of Children: 1
Race/Ethnicity: Caucasian, African American, Asian, Native American, Hispanic, Pacific Islander, Mixed, Bi-Racial

Special Needs the Family is Open To: Mild Physical/Medical Disability (Open to Discussion), Animal Allergies, Asthma, Drug Allergies, Environmental Allergies, Food Allergies

Environment

State: Oregon
Neighborhood: Country/Rural
Residency:
Years Together: 14
Children in the Home: 0
Pet(s): None

Work

Darren

Occupation: Environmental Specialist

Catherine

Occupation: Property Manager

Adoption Agency

Agency: A Family for Every Child
Worker: Elyse Hoots
Worker: elyse@afamilyforeverychild.org
City: Eugene
State: Oregon
Zip: 97402

Family Description

We live in Oregon near the Washington state border, in a rural community near Walla Walla, Washi9ngton. My husband and I enjoy hiking, camping, and snow shoeing. We also enjoy cooking new recipes and exploring new restaurants.

Preference Description

We want to adopt a child between the ages of 1 and 8 years old, of any ethnic background. We're willing to accept minor to moderate, or medically correctable conditions, or special needs like PTSD, attachment, learning, or developmental delays.

The Olsen Family Profile

We look forward to welcoming 1 or possibly 2 siblings between the ages of 1-8 to our family! We fostered our beautiful 4 yr old god daughter about 1.5 yrs through the joys and challenges of toddlerhood while she tried to wrap her precious little mind around the death of her mother and severe abuse from her bio-dad. She taught us that we do not only WANT to be parents, we absolutely LOVE being parents!! We cannot wait to welcome a new little one into the place in our hearts and the depth of love we discovered a child opens up. We welcome any background, race, ethnicity, as both of us have been privileged to travel to many countries and enjoyed taking part in many cultures. We are open to mild-moderate emotional, behavioral, or developmental needs. We firmly believe safe previous connections/relationships are important to a child and commit to encouraging them.

Introduction

Whether macaroni and cheese, or one of Catherine's culinary adventures into a new recipe is on the menu, dinners together are a weekday highlight. So are family evening walks! On weekends and holidays We enjoy exploring new hiking trails, snow shoeing trails, parks, travelling, or an occasional stay-at-home movie and baking day. A parade or other festive seasonal celebration is most welcome! We're active in a small non-denominational church family who full heartedly support and look forward to welcoming and loving our new child!

Home and Community

Our small, rural community is home to a newly built gradeschool, a fantastic little waterpark, 3 other parks within walking distance of our home, and a big beautiful library with regular activities for youth! We have a YMCA preschool with some of the most caring teachers we've ever encountered. On warm summer eves or snowy winter days, we hear children playing outside in our neighborhood. Our small town offers much to our younger members and is very near larger communities with even more to offer and experience!

Parenting Experience

We worked together with DHS to be resource parents for our god daughter. Catherine is the oldest of 5 and Darren is the youngest of 3 children. We have many nieces and nephews! Catherine has her Associates in Elementary Education and together, we have led youth ministry in our church and actively participated in youth ministry overseas. We had our god daughter living with us much of her life between age 2 to 4. Sometimes it seemed she had Daddy Darren wrapped around her little finger but it worked out because he had her little heart. Catherine learned mothering was both the hardest job and her favorite 'job' she could ever imagine. The thought of the little life laying in the next room could make her smile even before opening her eyes in the morning. The Olsens completed the Oregon DHS Foster Parenting "Foundations" classes. They participated in KEEP classes weekly learning about challenging behaviors, goal charts, learning how to identify your child's best way to learn good habits. They watched the Trauma-Informed Parenting Series with Cindy Lee LCSW Therapist 6 hours Webinar, Too Many Losses, Too Soon: Loss and grief among foster and adopted children- C.A.S.E webinar 1 hour Catherine attended the Shoulder to Shoulder 2-day webinar "Strengthening Children and Families" on 10/24/21 and 10/25/21. She also attended the webinar "Grief Gratitude and Grit" on 10/11/22 by Jessica Sinarski.

Support

Supportive aunts, uncles and grandparents are only a phone call away. Our small church has eagerly awaited our adoption with us each step of this journey. They adored our god daughter who visited one lap after another during every service, sharing her favorite snack-cucumbers while receiving lots of love and cuddles. We have friends who are both biological parents and have fostered many youth, available day or night. Our town is blessed with exceptionally caring staff at the YMCA preschool. We both feel so 'rich' with people in our lives who can both advise and strengthen our family.

Motivation to Adopt

Every day we both look forward to the child who will soon be an irreplaceable part of our lives! Teaming and working together as parents for our god daughter, we found to be a most 'natural' partnership. Even in the tough moments where we weren't sure what to do, it felt like we were brought together for this very purpose :) While we have developed our own interests through the years, there is plenty of room for new ones our child will wish to explore. We have always wanted children without any doubt. Both of us have jobs that allow the flexibility to prioritize our child's needs and to be actively involved in their day-to-day adventures and challenges. We've seen what love and stability can do to broken little lives and we would consider ourselves most privileged to be a part of that again. We are in great health and lead energetic, full lives that have a big child-sized opening we eagerly long to fill.